Analytical Thinking & Conspiracy Theories 🛸
Psych 🧠- 297/300
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What is it?
This research investigates the relationship between thinking styles and belief in conspiracy theories.
It specifically focuses on analytic thinking, which involves careful reasoning and critical evaluation of evidence, and how it relates to conspiracist ideation.
The study examines this connection through both correlational and experimental approaches.
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What do I need to know?
By encouraging and teaching analytic thinking skills, we may be able to help people better discern fact from fiction and make more informed decisions.
Correlation: People who believe in conspiracy theories tend to have lower levels of analytic thinking and open-mindedness, and rely more on intuitive thinking.
Causation:
Verbal fluency task: Engaging in a task that requires analytic thinking reduces belief in conspiracy theories.
Cognitive disfluency: Making information harder to process (disfluent) can also trigger analytic thinking and reduce conspiracist ideation. This effect was observed in both student and general population samples.
Key takeaways:
Analytic thinking can help reduce belief in conspiracy theories.
Promoting analytic thinking skills and encouraging critical evaluation of evidence may be effective strategies for countering the spread of conspiracy theories.
Reference:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027714001632